Thursday, August 28, 2014

I hear that David and Dad started jogging!! Wow, that sounds
super amazing!! Honestly, I'm sitting in a chair ALL DAY LONG. Just so you
know, our daily routine is broken down as follows…We wake up to pray, study,
eat, study some more, teach a lesson, back to study, eat again, study a bit
more, teach another lesson, more studies, eat, pray, and go to bed. Then next
day, repeat it all over again!! All spiritual and uplifting, but from what you can see, I am sun and exercise deprived. However, I keep telling myself that my mission post MTC will be mostly outdoors anyway. So, it is all good!

I show everyone my family pictures all the time and they
always say how good looking family I have and how beautiful my Mommy is and I’m
so proud of you all. My family is the best!! I LOVE YOU ALL!! I wish I could
give you a big hug all the way from Spain. So, it is a BIG “Spiritual
Hug”.

So, how is everyone doing?..How is Ella? And how are our
cars running?..Is everything ok? So, are my prayers working? You are “siempre” (always) in all my prayers.

As of me, I am doing good and learning more each day. It’s
really cool to learn so much about the gospel. I mean, I love it!! We
usually go out on p-days and see a little bit of the city (Madrid), besides
proselyting in the park but last week we had an opportunity to visit a soccer
club stadium “El Real Madrid”. But I mainly thought of Darren and Dad since I
figured you guys would have loved and enjoyed it! As always, we go to do temple session on Thursdays. That being said, the photo below at the temple was taken just today!

Anyway, I am learning so much about Spanish and the gospel
in general. It feels great! I have studied and pondered a lot this week about
the book of Ether. It’s crazy but I feel that I am learning a lot more than I
did at home in my personal studies. It is super cool! It seems as I
learn more for others and faster. Please read Ether 12: 6, 7 and then verse 12. I
love those verses!!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Can you
believe it’s been 3 weeks now at the MTC! Isn’t that crazy? The days seem so
long but the weeks seem to fly even faster. Weird stuff!!

Every Saturday
we proselyte as a District in a nearby park and try to talk to people about the
Book of Mormon and the good news. I know it is hard, but I smile because I know
our message could bring people closer to Christ by having joy and peace into their lives. Everywhere
I go, I see people that seem so lost and sad. But then I get a feeling that I
need to go, help and then all of a sudden I realize that is exactly the
reason why I am here serving in my mission. I love my mission!

I love you all
so much! I totally mean it when I say that! I think about you all everyday and
how I cannot wait to get this Spanish down so that I can communicate better. Also
know, that I am learning every day but I am not here to learn the language,
instead, I am here to represent Christ and bring the good news of the gospel to His children.

I know this
gospel is true with all of my heart. I love having the knowledge that we are
all Heavenly Father’s children and He loves us unconditionally for who we truly
are. He has a plan for us and I know it is the plan of salvation, also known as
the plan of happiness. Christ’s atonement is real!! It is very powerful if we
only apply it in our lives. His grace is sufficient for us.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Today is my second P-day and I was able to go to the Madrid Temple
for the second time. We left at 6:30 am this morning and this time all I
thought about was “mi familia”. I cried because while I was in the temple I
knew that we would be together forever with the best familia ever. It was
comforting because I want these people in Malaga to have that same joy… that
joy of knowing they will be with their “familias for toda la eternidad”
(families for all the eternity).

Oh wow, so much to tell you. So, David my comp in the
MTC is cute, and her name is Hermana Dueñas. Actually, she looks like me, and has
long brown hair. Interesting enough, her brother is currently serving in
Santiago, Chile. Also, her father is originally from Peru, so she actually can speak
Spanish already and it’s all super stressful because while we teach
investigators (fake ones), they are our teachers, she mainly talks and I just
say the prayer and bare my testimony..Oh well, it stinks L because I have all this
stuff I would want to say but I can’t because I don’t know how to express my feelings in Spanish yet. I sometimes
just try my hardest to say a sentence or two and it is so chopped up. I prayed and
asked for a Priesthood blessing and I feel like no matter what I say or how bad
I say it I just hope people feel the Spirit when we do teach.

I do have some
rough days that I get so frustrated because my teachers, all three of them,
ONLY speak Spanish so it’s so hard to understand what they are trying to teach me. But
nonetheless you all are such a strength to me because when I am a little down I
think of all of you and it brings such peace and joy so, guess what, I just keep on pushing forward...

Mom, I love you so
much. You have no idea the impact you had in my life. I am glad and
forever grateful for your faithfulness to the Lord. I am sorry I cannot write
more-- They don’t give me much time. But I have one week down five more to go...Until next week.. Abrazos y Besos! (Hugs and Kisses)Hermana Arce

Monday, August 11, 2014

MTC
President Kenneth D Lovell reported: "Our new group of wonderful
missionaries. They include missionaries from the U.S. learning Russian and from
U.S., Canada and Norway learning Spanish; and native French and Portuguese
speaking missionaries from the U.S., France, Portugal, Vanuatu and Mozambique.—

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

I finally arrived in Madrid, Spain safely but tired after
a long 15 hour flight! Actually, I got lost at the airport in France, but
after a little prayer and a couple minutes later I found my way to the gate...On my way to the MTC, I saw the Madrid Temple and is so beautiful and
I can't wait to go in.

I am super excited and ready to get my
missionary experience started at the Madrid MTC. --" There is so much strength in
this MTC and I haven't been here that long but its been great!!!

Monday, August 4, 2014

In October
2012, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that, from now
on, young women starting at the age of 19, should they desire to do so, would
be allowed to serve as missionaries.Since then, many young women have entered the mission field, including
two young women from York County in South Carolina, U.S.A.McKayla Garnett and Camille Arce, putting aside school and other
ambitions, have answered the call to serve.

Camille
Amanda Arce, a student at York Technical College, and graduate of York
Comprehensive High School in York, departed this week to serve an 18-month
mission.She and her parents, Francisco
and Valerie Arce of York, are financing her mission.The Arces, commented: “Camille is sacrificing
to be without her family for a year and half, so that others may be with their
families for all eternity. Our family is very proud of Camille having the desire
to serve a mission and to invite others to come unto Christ.”

On August
5th, Camille reported to the Church’s Missionary Training Center in Madrid,
Spain, where she will intensely study Spanish, as well as, the Bible and the Book of Mormon.After
approximately six weeks of study, she will report to the Spain Málaga Mission
to teach the gospel.Camille’s older
brother recently served a two-year mission in the Chile Osorno Mission for the
Church as well.She exclaimed, “Words
cannot describe how excited I am to serve the Lord. I have been extremely
blessed to have the knowledge of this Gospel in my life and can’t wait to share
it with the people of Spain!”

After graduating from
high school, Camille attended York Technical College this past year and worked
at Upper Palmetto YMCA.She plans to
resume her studies when she returns in 2016.She, like over 80,000 other Latter-day Saints (Mormon) missionaries who
are serving worldwide for the Church, has postponed her education to serve a
full-time mission.

Many might wonder why so many
young men and women would be willing to give up one and half to two years of
their lives to serve as missionaries.If
asked, most respond with same way: To share the happiness that the “good news”
of Jesus Christ brings!Church leaders
have repeatedly conveyed the necessity of spreading the “word of God.” It is an
urgency many young men and women around the world have felt and taken as their
own cause.Church leaders have put it
this way: “The gospel of Jesus Christ is the cure for so many of life’s ills that Mormons want to share the good news
of eternal life with the same urgency.”http://mormon.org/missionary-work